Care Partner of the Month: Katherine Cavanaugh
Chicago Care Partner of the Month: Katherine Cavanaugh
"See possibility everywhere.”
by Joan Richman Ente
Katherine Cavanaugh is our Chicago honoree of the month and a most inspiring person! She brings an array of talents and abilities to her work with Renewal Memory Partners. Katherine has the eye and hands of a gifted artist, the high principles of an activist, and the passion of a natural care advocate.
Born and raised in the semi-rural college town of Oberlin, Ohio, Katherine’s interest in art was apparent from an early age. Her strong-minded grandmother, Bing, provided the inspiration and support that Katherine needed to pursue her creative calling. Bing was a woman ahead of her time. She worked as a labor and delivery nurse and, in off-hours, managed a sexual health / community education program for the public. She was an important, formative influence in Katherine’s life, a role model and a rock.
Katherine studied at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 2015. Katherine works in several media: painting with high pigment acrylics (in studio she paints with oils); printmaking and drawing. In her drawings, Katherine works with a ballpoint pen. She has also created some murals, making public statements of beauty and hope in her neighborhood, Chicago’s Englewood community. Among her many projects: designing Renewal's holiday card in 2019.
Renewal’s 2019 Holiday Card: Untitled by Katherine Cavanaugh.
Katherine had a variety of professional experiences before she became a Care Partner, among them working for a nonprofit arts organization. She works at several jobs, all different expressions of her deeply held commitment to social justice and equity issues. She volunteers for an anti-violence program (with whom she created murals in the community) and is a volunteer tutor for children at a remote learning hub in her neighborhood. Her work with young students informs her work as a Care Partner. Stories about a culturally isolated child helped Katherine inspire her RMP client to open up about her own experiences with racism as a girl.
Katherine has been with RMP for almost two years and loves her work as a Care Partner. “Most remarkable is the variety of clients I’ve had, from hospice patients to memory care, all in need of refreshment,” she says. Hospice work was a new experience for Katherine, who once again took inspiration from her grandmother’s life. She was able to recall what her grandmother needed near her end of days and then provided that comfort care for her client.
Since last summer, Katherine has been working with one client who spends a lot of time grieving for her late father and sister. Katherine has helped her client move past dwelling on loss. She creates activities that help her client live more fully in the moment, honoring the memories of lost loved ones in the process. Katherine likes to point out beautiful and interesting things and share them with her client. Together they decorate the client’s home and try to “see possibility everywhere.” It is a healing experience.
Katherine is someone who has managed personal health issues since a young age. She understands frailty and pain better than most. Katherine’s challenges have become yet further inspiration for her work. As she sees it, the different parts of her life are all connected. If you asked Katherine, she would tell you that her “job on this planet is to care for people who are disposable in our current society --- to see the beauty of their lives and purposes.” And she would further inspire you by referencing the poet Maya Angelou, who tells us that “...people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Making her clients feel valued and cherished --- that is Katherine’s special artistry.